Insulation, insulation, all around!

We had our pre-drywall meeting today with our project manager.  When he said, " pre- drywall" , he wasn't kidding.  Drywall and insulation were literally being brought in as we were talking to him.  Good thing we didn't have any major concerns because I am not sure when they would have addressed them! We met with our PM from 8:00-8:45am and insulation was done by 2:00pm ( except for what has to be blown in).

Things look great!  We can tell where our outlets and switches are, where our lighting is, etc.  Our hardware is mismatched right now because they are waiting on the rest of the oil rubbed bronze to be delivered but wanted to be able to have the doors completely shut.  

The crew worked way into the evening today getting our drywall loaded into the correct level of the house since it's supposed to be terrible weather tomorrow.

Siding is ready, too!

Drywall is next !

The guts of the house

This week the HVAC stuff, pipe thing- a- ma-bobs, and water do-hickies have been installed.  ( you can tell this is NOT my area of interest or expertise).  Things seem to be right on track , though, and we anticipate our pre-drywall meeting to be soon.  We have locked into our mortgage rate and feel good about our monthly payments, closing costs, etc.  We went with NVR because they were able to pretty much match our good faith estimate from the competitors we researched and we were able to keep out incentive. Bathtubs are in, shower floor is in, and some of the decorative window and door framing is up! 

Big man checking out the front door 

In his room...( he also had to go to the bathroom so he promptly christened our backyard )

The view from the front 

Love the windows 

Bar area from kitchen into the family room 

Kids' bathtub 

Some thing-a-ma-bobs 

Quick peek

We stopped by for a few pictures today.  The roof is done, some doors are in and most of the windows, too.  We spent some time in the house talking about furniture placement and where to put the beer fridge. :).  We have also noticed that the curb cut for our driveway is not centered with our driveway and garage.  Will be talking to our PM tomorrow about getting that changed, if at all possible ( please???!!)

Will it fit here?

Kitchen and sliding door to backyard. ( will be adding a screened porch... Hopefully sooner than later)

Ladies and Gentlemen.... We have a roof!

Shingles go on tomorrow!  The interior pictures are of the kitchen, living room and dining room, and our finished attic ( one side will be music studio, one side will have the guest bed and full bathroom)

Big Machines Doing Big Work

Large equipment was all around today.   The kids loved seeing the cranes and all the trucks!  Take a look at the progress!

Walls, Trusses, and Appraisals...oh my!

I have been so impressed with our PM and all the subcontractors that Ryan uses.  Everyone is friendly when we are at the site (and someone from our family is there ...everyday....at least once) and they are constantly working.  As we were heading out to meet friends for ice cream around 7:00 this evening, crews were still there finishing up. ( Please remind me of how thankful I am for their long hours after I move in and they are on our street, at the crack of dawn, hammering on the homes of other families.) 

When we met our PM on the first day, I explained to him that we are nice, friendly, and fairly easy to work with but that we WOULD be stalking our lot at every stage of the build.  And we are certainly delivering on that promise.

 We received our appraisal and it came back higher than what we are paying for the house so that is WONDERFUL!  Love some instant equity!  

Enjoy the latest pictures! Hopefully the trusses will be up in the next day or so!

Walls are going up!

October 13, 2013

Framing was supposed to have started this week and OF COURSE it was one of the rainiest weeks on record this year.  I am very impressed that they were even able to get as much done as they did!  Our PM has been great with keeping us updated weekly.  We hope to be under roof by the end of this coming week. FINGERS CROSSED!

We have broken ground!

We had our pre-construction meeting on Monday afternoon and building began on Tuesday morning.  As we walked the lot on Monday, it became very clear that the grading of the lot was not going to work for us.  The backyard was too sloped to be used as a playground area for the kids and I worried about water draining towards our foundation.  It was definitely an interesting conversation to have with our PM (as we had just met him that day) to explain to him that yes, I love my floor plan, yes I love the location of the house, but NO I do not like this yard and it's not okay that it stays that way.  

So, he calmly listened and said "he will see what he can do".  He called my husband yesterday and let him know he was bringing an excavator in to move tons of dirt.  We stopped by to see the progress and were pleasantly greeted by a much more reasonable grade.  Here is what we have so far....

view of our lot...much of the ground has been regraded but still more to do

view from the back corner

we have front steps!

side view of our front steps

view from back corner of our lot 

Here we go!

I admit it.  I am a "blog stalker".  I have spent endless hours scouring the internet for feedback, suggestions, opinions, etc. related to building a Ryan Home.  Since these blogs have helped me so much on our family's journey to build our home, I thought I would return the favor and start one of our own.  So, here we go!

Our journey to building began about 2 months ago (well, let's be serious, I stalk realtor.com nearly as much as I do blogs so in all honesty, I had been dreaming about moving for the last year or so) when my husband ventured over to the new subdivision and inquired about the layouts .  The opportunity to have a full finished basement (which is unusual in this area) was what initially drew us to the neighborhood.  Our vision for the basement was quickly clouded by the price tag which put the house out of our budget.  But the salesperson let us know that a finished attic option had just been added to one of the models we were considering.

So, we put a hold on a lot, got our house ready for the market in about 2 1/2 weeks and listed it on August 23.  On the morning of August 24, we had a full price offer on the house....and they wanted us out in 30 days.  Our move was now in overdrive.  My parents have graciously allowed us to live with them for the 3 months or so it will take to build our home. 

We are excited to be building a Milan (elevation C) with Ryan homes.  We have kept the 3 bedroom and loft option because we added the attic bedroom and full bath.  It puts our house at just over 3000 square feet with 4 bedrooms, a loft, and 3.5 bathrooms.  MORE than enough room for our family of 4 (and 2 dogs).

We home you enjoy following our journey! 

our finished attic (with fourth bedroom and full bath)

our 2nd floor

our first floor (no morning room...hoping to add screened porch)



our elevation...we will have this house but reverse (garage on left)